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 From Kevin Conley: Sometime in the early sixties I had
the honor of seeing Moe, Larry and Curly Joe in person. The show was in Lorain, Ohio. After the show I had my picture taken with The 3 Stooges. It was a great
experience that I will never forget. If anyone else was there, do you know exactly when it was?
From Tom Wiseman: I was just finishing up my degree
in Special Education at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I attended a Three Stooges film festivle with my cousin. Just before the first reel was shown, one of the producers
came on stage and announced that the last stooge had passed away and that the festivle was dedicated to Moe Howard. I felt a great since of loss. Slap-stick comedy will
always have a place in the American culture. To me the absolute masters of slap-stick were the three stooges. I grew up with them and even now watch them when ever I
have the opportunity. Thanks for this great site.
From Sal Lucido: I have been a stooge fan for 41 years. The kids in my neighborhood used to crowd around an
old black and white Admiral TV at our house and laugh ourselves to the point of exhaustion watching their crazy
antics. My favorite all-time episode is when the boys are working as automobile mechanics in a garage. In this
particular episode there is a scene in which Moe's head gets stuck in a section of clay pipe and Curly sticks a
crowbar down inside the pipe to pry Moe loose...through the magic of TV we get an internal view and see that the
forked prong end of the crowbar is hooked right up into Moe's nostrils...the look on Moe's face is priceless. I've
seen that shot 50 times and I STILL get hysterical every time I see it and always fall out of my chair laughing. And
if that wasn't enough, later on in the episode Moe somehow falls into a trough of liquid latex rubber, emerges
dripping with the sticky stuff and, of course, Curly sticks an air hose in his pants, for reasons unclear, whereupon
Moe blows up like a giant balloon and floats to the ceiling. Curly, seeing Moe's floating dilemna, produces, of all
things, a shotgun and decides to rescue Moe by shooting him, whereupon Moe, blasted with the shotgun at close
range, takes the most horrendous fall to the ground anybody has ever endured. It must have killed the stunt
double. I'll tell ya, that episode in NOTHING short of comedic genius. People who don't even appreciate the
stooges fall over dead seeing that scene. God love them, I miss them so.
Paul Legas, Los Alamitos, California: Ok, I have a couple of Stooge related stories In 1973, when Larry was
living at the Mo-tion Picture hospital in Woodland Hills, Ca. I had the good fortune to speak to him on the telephone
for about 10 minutes. It is a great memory. I attempted to write to Moe Howard thru the old TV station KBSC,
Channel 52 around 1975 but Moe passed away before I could send a letter. In 1984, I spoke to both Joe Besser
and Emil Sitka on the telephone, and both were memorable calls. Emil and I talked about the Stooges' violence
and how they did it in the movies (rubber hammers, balsa wood, etc..) and Joe Besser and I talked about his short
time with the boys and his stint on the old Joey Bishop show. And thanks to KCAL 9 here in Southern california,
we have them every week-end on the tube. I love the Stooges and I know you do too.
This story comes from Gary Apple
You probably read Moe Howard & The Three Stooges.... Moe's autobiography. Near the very end of the book, he
tells a story about how he was asked to make an appearance at Buffalo University. He goes on to tell how a
student asked him to hit him with a pie, and Moe obliged. I was that student. I had brought the pie with me to the
auditorium, not knowing how I might ask Moe to hit me with it. He was quite old by this time (and died not long
after). But he invited the audience to write questions on cards and I wrote "Dear Moe I would consider it a great
honor if you would kindly hit me with the pie I brought. Sincerely, Gary Apple." Moe first thought it was a joke, but
when I stood up with the pie the audience errupted with delight. Moe invited me up onto the stage and after giving a
small "pie throwing lesson," he let fly. We both did the licking our fingers schtick. It was an amazing rush that I will
never forget. I took it as such a great honor. When I read the Moe himself considered it an honor, too, I was
absolutely speechless. In his book he says, "In my entire career with or without the Stooges, I have never enjoyed
such a standing ovation." If you do not believe me, I wrote a whole article about it for my college newspaper. I can
fax you a copy of the article. Now, I hope you can run this request I have NO PHOTO of the event. There were
dozens if not hundreds of cameras, but I was never able to get a picture. If ANYONE out there has a shot of Moe hitting a student with a pie at Buffalo in 1975 (or late '74) please let me know.
This story comes from Guada Aballe from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Yes, we, women, love the Stooges very much. My favorite is Moe. I grew up with them, watched them on TV, never
missed a short, and knew all their routines. And now, aged 29, I watch them always and collect all about Moe
Howard. There is more; I teach 4th grade in a Primary School, my students love the Stooges and I encourage that
love, we use to comment in class the shorts they watched on TV the day before. The Stooges were and are very
popular in Buenos Aires and I'm proud of it. I've read many times the wonderful report Moe made for his book about
the boy and the pie. It was amazing to read Gary Apple's words. GARY, thank you very much for sharing with us your wonderful memories. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
This story comes from Greg Bontrager (age 12)
I've been a Stooges fan for a while now. Last year, in fifth grade, I had two friends (Mike and Ryan) who would
come and take me to the next class. (I'm a little slow because of being in a wheelchair). The man that taught the
class from which they took me, my math/science teacher, Mr.Mild, saw our extraordinary goofiness and
nicknamed us "The Three Stooges"! Already being a Stooges fan, I liked the idea, and nicknamed Mike "Larry" and
Ryan "Curly". (I'm Moe). To this day, I enjoy doing the Stooges' moves with them. ( I do everything gently so as
not to actually hurt them. I also stop a 1/2 of an inch or so from their eyes and say "Bonk" when doing the
eyepoke.) I have recently nicknamed another friend "Shemp". Ryan especially seems to suit his role as Curly. He
has that kind of silliness in his personality. I am going to try to teach him to say "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk" and "Woob, woob, woob, woob, woob". This story comes from John Brenna.
I've been a Stooges Fan since I was three years old and used a pair of vice grips to grab my aunt's nose. (I am now
40) She was sleeping on the couch and baby sitting for me. I grabbed her nose with a nyuk, nyuk, nyuk and found
myself lying on the ground after she hit me across the mouth. To this day Curly holds a special place in my heart. This story comes from Gary Long.
Having recently achieved the status of "old fart," I thought I'd pass along my one memory of having seen the
Stooges live on stage. It was about 1950, so it would've been in the Shemp era. I was only 5 years old at the time,
so I don't remember much about the performance. The one memory that lasted did so because it became one of
those family in-jokes that stay around forever. It seems I remembered one joke from the performance. It was
somewhat off-color (by 1950 standards) and I naturally chose to repeat it when the local priest came to visit. The
gag: MOE: Is that your own face you're wearing? LARRY: It's nobody else's but(t). That's my contribution to the Stooge memory file. Hope you like it. This story comes from Jodi.
I think I'm the only woman in the world that likes the 3 Stooges. Guys get totally flipped out when I tell them I think
the Stooges are great. I've loved the Stooges since I was about seven, and I have watched their films whenever
possible. A while ago, when I was home on break my freshman year of college, I discovered that a local station ran
the Stooges in the afternoon. Well, I watched every chance I got! It was heaven. Home, good food, and the
Stooges! Also during this time, my mother had three teeth removed and developed dry sockets, so was in agony
and trying to sleep in the living room (By the way, my mother is terrified of the dentist) while I was watching TV.
Well, lo and behold, what should come on, but the infamous scene where Larry and Moe are trying to pull Curly's
teeth. I couldn't help it. The timing couldn't have been better (or worse, I guess) And I just got hysterical. I'm not a
very big person, but my laugh is -- it's this huge, hyena-like "ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa" and the Stooges produce it eve
time, without fail. Well, I was in full HA HA HA and woke my poor mother, who started yelling as best she could at
me through the drugs and the stitches and the cotton packing in her mouth. All I could do was point and gasp out
"They're pulling Curly's teeth . . ." At which point my mother stopped and watched briefly (at this point the Stooges
were employing a very large vise-grip plier) and the irony of it all hit her, and she began laughing, too. Later on, my
mom said that despite all the trauma of her surgery, she thinks it was one of the funniest moments we've ever shared. This story is from Brian Lehrke, a Stooge fan from New Zealand.
I became a Stooges fan in 1946 while as a projectionist I was viewing the boys in their films . Noticing that they
wore white socks in a lot of the shots I decided this was real cool !! Ever since then from 1946 I have worn nothing
but white socks !! My wife goes mad , trying to keep them white . Up until a few years ago my wife and I owned
and operated a film & video production company , until I decided to retire and concentrate on my hobbies . When
we sold our business I realized a dream when the news of a Stooges Convention was revealed to me . After joining
the fan club and getting the 3 Stooges Journal the prospect of visiting the USA and getting a good dose of
Stoogemania was too good to miss !! Anne & I traveled to Hawaii , Los Angeles , New York , and then Philadelphia
for the Convention . As I am a nervous flier this was the only incentive to get me in a jetliner !! We were welcomed
and treated with an incredible American hospitality I shall never forget . The "Convention Team " with Frank & Philli,
Gary & Robyn and the Budnicks helped us to enjoy the experience to the full . We were very sad to leave even
after all the laughs we enjoyed . I bought about a dozen 16 mm films of the Stooges at the Convention which we
packed in a big sports roll bag . It was a huge effort to get it back to New Zealand . The taxi driver that took us to
the airport was astounded we would come so far and buy so much of the boys goods !! A few months later Nate
and Lyla Budnick decided to visit NZ so I picked them up at Auckland Airport and brought them to our place in
Wanganui for a week . They were great company and we heard a load of good Stooge stories !! They gave me a
plaque making me NZ's #1 Stooge fan . My theatre under the house was a self contained apartment but we
converted it when we moved here . I have two Eiki projectors (16 mm ) with a 30 ft throw and the theatre seats 25 .
One wall is covered with Stooge B& W stills . Even though the Stooges are not well known in NZ I am trying hard to convert people here andill make a request of the cable channels here to show them .
This story comes from Ken Klamert. I first learned of the Stooges in the mid-'60's, watching reruns of their shorts after coming home from school. I've
been watching them ever since. (I'm now 40.) Anyone remember the gag when one of the Stooges (Moe, I think)
blew pepper from his hand across the face of an adversary, disabling him with sneezing fits? Well, one time I tried
this trick on my little sister. When she wasn't looking, I shook a whole bunch of ground pepper into my palm, and
waited..... When she turned around, I blew. Unfortunately, my aim was lousy and instead of blowing the pepper in
front of her, I blew it right into her eyes! The pain! We had to flush her eyes for a half hour to get all of it out. I got
grounded for a week. But none of us have ever forgotten it. It comes up occasionally at family get-togethers, but for some reason my sister doesn't really want to talk about it much....
This story comes from Barbara Walters. (The Stooge Fan, not TV personality!) I am a long time stooges fan. I always watched them after school, or whenever they came on TV. My 2 brothers
and I loved watching, which didn't thrill our mom, since we were always trying all the things the stooges did. (pick
2 fingers.....) etc. Nyuk Nyuk... why soitenly! Well, I read in your fans notes that Jodi thought she was the only
female that loved the stooges. Well, I absolutely love them and always have and always will. I'm so glad there is
stuff for sale with there pictures, especially posters. I have a great poster of them playing golf, all clad in their golf
outfits, but I'm not sure if my husband will let me hang it up in our new house. ( he just doesn't understand) Well,
I've passed my love of the stooges to my boys, ages 10 and 8, and taught them all the stooges "moves" . They
even went and spent their own money, 2 Christmas's ago, on a Stooges Video for me for Christmas! That was the
best gift I ever got! Well, please let other women of the world know that there are some of us out here that love the stooges. (I'm 38 and still acting like the stooges) This story comes from M Barrett.
I can't tell you how big a part of my life the stooges have been. From being a kid and running home to catch them
at 4:00pm after school to hanging out with friends after drinking parties in college and catching them late at night.
Like most people that probably visit this site, I have seen each episode so many times I can recite the words that
are about to be spoken. Favorite scenes: Curly doing his laundry on the golf course; all three controlling a cannon
that they eventually use to sink the admiral's flag ship; a bad guy trying to punch one of the boys, missing, hitting
a wall and seeing his hand swell to the size of a balloon; Curly with a spring on his rear end bouncing up from the
floor; Curly and Larry wallpapering Moe to the wall; I could go on forever! I've moved away from where I was raised,
however whenever my old friends and I get together, the Stooges are at the top of our agenda! This story comes from Mike Passerilli.
When I was about 4 or 5, my sister and I were in the back seat of the car in a parking lot. I don't know why, but I
just slapped her across the face for no reason because I though that if the 3 Stooges did it, then it was OK.
Needless to say, I got in a lot of trouble for doing that and was banned from watching them for a while. While I was
banned, the station took them off the air, so now I couldn't watch them even if I wanted to. Some time later,
another station showed them on Sunday nights (and still does to this day), and I watch them whenever they're
on. Another time, when I was about 12 or 13, I was talking to one of my friends about the 3 Stooges and the
eye-poking thing. When he was not expecting it, I did the eye-poking thing and got him right in the eye. I knew that wasn't funny, but I laughed anyway. |
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